Door stop



July 10, 1962 STROM 3,042,959

DOOR STOP Filed March 21, 1958 ['70- 7 INVENTOR zf'c/yar- 7.' SfromATTORNEY Unite rates atent 3,fl42,959 Patented July 10, 1952 Bee3,042,959 DGOR STU-1' Edgar T. Strain, Beuiah, N. Dair. Eiied Mar. 21,1958, Ser. No. 722,959 4 (Ilaims. {6L 16-86) This invention relates toan improvement in door stops and deals particularly with a resilientcushioning member designed to engage against the door as it swingstoward one extreme position in order to prevent the door from slammingagainst a wall or the like.

An object of the present invention resides in the provision of a suctioncup device which is mounted upon the end of a spring which in turn ismounted upon a wall to project in a desired direction therefrom. Thisdevice is mounted in the path of movement of a door as it swings towardone extreme position which would normally be fully open position. As thedoor swings forcefully toward the Wall, the surface of the door engagesthe suction cup which cushions the movement of the door and tends tostop its movement. If the door is swinging with suflicient force, thisforce will cause the supporting spring to contract thus furthercushioning the movement of the door. As a result, the door will belimited in its movement and will stop movement gradually therebypreventing injury to the door or its supporting hinges.

A feature of the present invention resides in the provision of a devicefor checking the movement of a door as it swings toward an extremeposition and which may be used in combination with a glass door or witha door having a glass window therein. The device acts to cushion themovement of the door and to bring it to a gradual stop without injury tothe door.

A further feature of the present invention resides in the provision of adevice of the type described incorporating a valve means for permittingair to enter the suction cup as the door moves away from the same. Thismay comprise a bleed valve but in preferred form comprises an integralflap valve which swings open as the door moves away from the suction cupto prevent the door from being held to the cup.

A further feature of the present invention resides in the provision of adevice of the type described which may incorporate a series of resilientfingers which engage the surface of the door prior to the engagement ofthe door against the suction cup. These fingers gradually reduce thespeed of movement of the door by flexing rearwardly upon engagement withthe door but permit the door to engage the suction cup when the fingersare sufliciently flexed.

These and other objects and novel features of the present invention willbe more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification andclaims.

In the drawing forming a part of the specification:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic sectional view through a door and frame andadjoining portion of the wall, showing a typical manner of mounting thedoor check.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view through the device showing the constructionthereof.

FIGURE 3 is an end view of the door check.

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view through a modified form of construction ofcushioning means.

FIGURE 5 is an end View of the cushioning means illustrated in FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is an end view of the door check shown in FIGURES 1 through 3,showing the end opposite that shown in FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 7 is an end elevational view of a modified form of suction cup.

FIGURE 1 of the drawing diagrammatically illustrates a door 10 which ishingedly secured by a hinge 11 to a door frame 12. The door frame 12 ismounted in a wall 13.

The door check A is mounted upon the wall 13 to extend in a directionsubstantially normal to the surface of the door 10 when it swings intoengagement with the check.

As illustrated in FIGURE 2 of the drawing, the door check A includes anelongated spring 14 having an anchoring strip or plate 15 of sufficientlength so as to bridge the end convolution 16 thereof engaging saidconvolution and secured inwardly of this end spring convolution 16. Theanchoring strip 15 is dished or recessed and is provided with a centralaperture 17 designed to accommodate a screw 19 or similar device whichmay be used to attach the spring in a desired position upon the wall 13.

A suction cup 24 is provided with a central projection 21 on its convexsurface 22 to project axially from the cup. The cup 21 is of proper sizeto snugly fit Within the end 23 of the spring 14. An anchoring strip 24,similar to the strip 15, bridges the sides of the spring 14 and issecured to one of the convolutions 25 thereof. This anchoring strip 24is provided with a central aperture 26 designed to accommodate ananchoring bolt or screw 27.

The projection 2i. accommodates an internally threaded nut or sleeve 29which is embedded in the axis of the projection. The mounting screw 27is threaded into the sleeve 29 to securely anchor the spring to thesuction cup.

The outer surface 22 ofthe suction cup 26 is provided with a circularindentation 30 which extends most of the way through the body of thesuction cup leaving a thin Web 31 at the base of the indentation. Thisweb 31 is out along an arcuate line 32 defining a generally circular tab33 which remains connected to the body of the suction cup 20 along anarea of connection 34. The tab 33 provides a flap which may flexinwardly but which is prevented from flexing outwardly by means of anobstructing lip 28 integral with the cup 20. Thus, as the suction cupengages the surface of thedoor, there is tendency to com press airwithin the suction cup and to force the air outwardly between theperiphery of the cup and the door surface. However, the flap 33 may flexinwardly if the interior of the cup is subjected to partial vacuum asthe door lit] is moved away from the surface of the cup.

In FIGURES 4 and 5 of the drawings I disclose a modified form ofconstruction which has certain advantages over the structure previouslydescribed. These figures show a suction cup structure 35 having a convexu per surface 36 and a concave under surface 37. As shown in FIGURE 5,the suction cup device 35 is generally souare in outline and is providedwith V-shaped notches 39 which extend from the periphery or outer edge41 toward the center thereof. This divides the periphery of the suctioncup device into a series of four radially extending resilient fingers4-1 which are designed to engage against the surface of the door as thedoor swings toward the check and to check the movement of the door. Thenndersurface of the suction cup 37 is provided with a hollowed centralportion 42 which acts to form the actual suction cup of the device.Thus, when the resilient fingers 41 flex to a sufficient extent so as toflatten against the surface of the door, the door engages the peripheryof the suction cup 42. The apex of each notch 39 extends into closerelationship with the periphery of this hollow center portion 42.

The suction cup device 35 is provided with a rear- Wardly projectingaxial shank 43 in which is embedded an axial sleeve or nut 44 which isinternally threaded to accommodate the fastening screw 27. The spring 14and the remainder of the modified device is identical to that I, 7 7 apreviously described and illustrated in FIGURE 2 and accordingly is notshown in detail.

As will be seen, the supporting spring combines with the suction cup togradually stop the movement of the door and to cushion this action tosuch an extent that the doors and door supporting means Will be savedfrom injury even where the door swings against the check with a veryconsiderable force. The check is extremely eflective for use with glassdoors and with doors contain- 7 ing glass windows and effectivelyprevents the breakage of the glass.

' FIGURE 7 illustratesa modified form of suction cup of square outline,shown in general at 46. This shape of suction cup is advantageous incertain-installations, such as where the suction cup engages a boardwhich is relatively narrow. Due to the square shape, there is moreactual cushioning area provided for a certain width of cup. 7

The cup 46 is shown as having a restricted opening 47 extendingtherethrough to break the vacuum within the cup. Thus, while the suddenslamming of the door against the cup will cause a partial vacuum tendingto prevent rebound, the hole 47 will gradually admit air to permit theclosing of the door without difficulty.

' In'accordance with the patent statutes, I have described theprinciples of construction and operation of my improvement in doorstops, and while I have endeavored to set forth the best embodimentthereof, I desire to have it understood that changes may be made withinthe scope of the following claims'without departing from the spirit ofmy invention.

I claim: I

1. A door check including a coil spring having a plurality of spacedconvolutions, means at one end of said spring for securing the spring toa wall, a suction cup device having an axial projecting shank engaged inthe other endof said spring, sleeve means embedded in said axial shank,said suction cup being arranged with its periphery on a planesubstantially normal to the axis of spring, said spring beingsimultaneously flexed laterally and compressed axially by the impact ofa closing door to maintain said suction cup peripheral relation, andmeans attached to said sleeve securing said shank to said spring p 2.The construction described in claim 1 and in which the means at one endof the spring for attaching the spring to a wall includes a memberbridging across a convolution of the spring. t

3. A door check including a coil spring having a plurality of spacedconvolutions, means at one end of said spring for securing the spring toa wall, a suction cup device having an axial projecting shank engaged inthe other end of said spring, said suction cup being arranged with itsperiphery on a plane substantially normal to the axis of the spring,means securing said shank to said spring, and a flap valve forming apart of the body of the suction cup and being flexible inwardly intosaid cup.

4. A door check including a coil springhaving a plurality of spacedconvolutions, a first anchoring member near one end of said spring whichextends between adjacent convolutions and engages one of saidconvolutions, said first anchoring member having a centrally locatedaperture, a first screw element projecting through said aperture in anaxial direction from said spring and adapted to extend through said onespring end for engagement wi h a wall, the head of said screw elementabutting said first anchoring member, a second anchoring member near theother end of said spring which extends between adjacent convolutions andengages one of said adjacent convolutions, said second anchoring memberhaving a centrally located aperture, a second screw element projectingthrough the aperture of said second anchoring member, and a suction cupdevice having a shank and a sleeve imbedded in said shank, said sleevebeing secured to said second screw element, said suction cup devicebeing arranged with its periphery in a plane substantially normal to theaxis of the spring, said spring being simultaneously flexed laterally aswell as compressed axially by the impact of the closing door.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS478,372 Shaw July 5, 1892 930,236 Schacht Aug. 3, 1909 1,621,974Dennihan Mar. 22, 1927 1,983,784 Watkins et al Dec. 11, 1934 2,140,002Dion Dec. 13, 1938 2,652,585 Herbenar Sept. 22, 1953 2,760,224 HennellyAug. 28, 1956 2,805,441 Reder Sept. 10, 1957 2,808,609 Schultz Oct. 8,1957 2,852,801 Doljan Sept. 23, 1958

